Sometimes, if you ask people to "go downstairs and get me this or that," they'll say, "It's rainin" or "It might rain," or "There's some bumpy roads on the road," or bla-bla-bla. They give you all those excuses, so when they do something which is easy, you're supposed to say, "Damn, you did that?"

Drummers - sometimes they play and they listen. And that little listen takes a speck away from the right tempo.

Monk was a gentle person, gentle and beautiful, but he was strong as an ox. And if I had ever said something about punching Monk out in front of his face - and I never did - then somebody should have just come and got me and taken me to the madhouse, because Monk could have just picked my little ass up and thrown me through a wall.

You want to know how I started playing trumpet? My father bought me one, and I studied the trumpet. And everybody I heard that I liked, I picked up things from.

I was minding my own business when something says to me, "you ought to blow trumpet." I have just been trying ever since.

Some day I'm gonna call me up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.

I can tell. I'm gifted with that, you know. When I hear that the tempo is slightly off, it's hard for me.